"MissTennyson? Will you please give me your homework." Mrs Howard frowned standing before our heroine's desk.

The 14 year girl finally woke up to a shock and all her classmates laughed at her. She groaned in annoyance and realized she had to turn her homework in. She then handed it to her science teacher. Great. I fell asleep again. All because I was fighting that monster last night.

After she finished her class, her teacher stopped her in her tracks. "Tennyson? May I have a word with you?"

Sarah sighed and walked up to her. "Yes, Mrs Howard?"

"I just want to know what's going on. This is the third time in a row you fall asleep in my class this week. And not just mine, your other classes too." Mrs Howard said in concern.

"....yeah.about that...I just having trouble to sleep. I guess because of working hard on my homework and stuff."

Mrs Howard looked at Sarah as she nodded when she gave her reason.

"Yes, I know you've always been working hard on your homework, Ms Tennyson. But the problem is, you shouldn't be falling asleep during class." Mrs Howard replied.

"I-I know, and I am sorry, Mrs Howard. It won't happen again...next year I mean." She giggled since she knew it was summer now.

Mrs Howard chuckled, seeing Sarah's smirk as she mentioned it was now summer.

"Yes, your sleeping in class won't happen next year...hopefully." Mrs Howard said. "However with sleeping during class, that usually results in a punishment of some kind," her tone of voice changed as she spoke in a more stern tone.

Oh man, she thought.

At Mr Gold's pawnshop.

Mr Gold heard his office phone rang so he rushed in the back.

Mr. Gold was in the back of his shop as he heard the ringing phone. He hurried over to it and picked it up.

"Hello?" He said, answering the phone as he placed the phone against his ear.

He then heard it was principal from Sarah's school. He sighed when the principal said he needed to speak with him.

Mr Gold arrived to the school seeing Sarah in Mrs Howard's science class. Sarah sat in Mrs Howard's science class as the principal talked to Mr. Gold.

"Hello Mr. Gold," Principal Evans spoke once Mr. Gold arrived. "I am sorry to call you down here at such a random time, but we needed to speak with you about something concerning Sarah."

Mr. Gold raised a brow as he looked at the principal.

"...What about her?" Mr. Gold asked with a worried tone.

Principal Evans sighed, placing a hand on his desk as he explained to Mr. Gold.

"Well, ever since the school year started we've noticed she's been falling asleep in class. This has happened multiple times in the past few months." He informed Mr. Gold.

Mr Gold knew it was because of her full time job as a superhero, but he couldn't tell them that. He had to think of something so they didn't know about Sarah's secret. Mr. Gold stayed quiet, staying calm as he tried to think of an excuse for Sarah.

"Well..." he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Has she told you why?" He asked, stalling to buy time to think.

Principal Evans nodded in response to Mr. Gold's question.

"She did give an excuse, but that still didn't justify her sleeping in class." He replied, before looking at the door. "But that's still not even the issue at hand right now, Mr. Gold."

Mr. Gold raised a brow.

"Then...what is?" He asked, with a hint of wariness in his voice.

"The reason we called you down here was because," Principal Evans leaned back in his chair, looking between Mr. Gold and Sarah. "We think the reason why Sarah is sleeping in class is because something going on outside of the school that is making her fall asleep." He answered.

Mr. Gold felt himself freeze when Principal Evans mentioned this.

oh no..., Mr. Gold thought to himself. This situation was already bad enough, but if they dug even deeper into this...they were going to discover Sarah's secret.

"We believe...she might be having issues at home, like maybe family fights or sibling rivalry....anything like that happening? I understand if it's personal," the principal said.

Oh good, they don't know,  Mr Gold thought.

Mr. Gold let out a sigh. Thank goodness they didn't know that Sarah was a literal superhero. But now he had to think of a cover up quick.

"Oh, no, no. None of that is happening at home." Mr. Gold said, sounding confident that there was no family issues going on. "There might be another explanation why she's been sleeping in class." He added.

Mr. Gold tried to think quickly of what to say to convince them that it wasn't family issues, before a idea came to his mind.

"She...might be having trouble sleeping at night because..." Mr. Gold muttered. "She gets nightmares."

Sarah then nodded, "yeah...I-I don't like talking about it...it's embarrassing."

She turned to her step father Mr Gold silently thanking him.

Principal Evans raised a brow, looking at Sarah for a moment.

"And what kind of nightmares do you have, Sarah?" He asked with a gentle tone.

"Well uh....those news about kids being kidnapped. I get nightmares if that happens to me. It happened my older sister before." Sarah replied.

Principal Evans sighed, listening to Sarah's response. He had a sympathetic gaze as he heard she has nightmares about the news of other children being kidnapped.

"I see..." Principal Evans said before looking up to look at Mr. Gold. "Mr. Gold, do you know when this has started?"

Mr. Gold shook his head, as he responded.

"They've just started a few months ago. I think she just kept remembering what happened to her sister." Mr. Gold replied, trying to keep up with the lie they were creating.

Principal Evans nodded, believing every word that was told to him.

"I see. I see." Principal Evans replied. He then placed a hand under his chin, thinking about Sarah's situation carefully before speaking.

"Ms Tennyson," he spoke, looking at Sarah. "Unfortunately, like Mr. Gold said, that doesn't justify you falling asleep in class. If you're having trouble sleeping and it results in you falling asleep in class, you need to deal with it so it doesn't happen again next school year." Principal Evans lectured.

Sarah nodded, "I promise it will be fixed. I know it's no excuse, but I will fix it."

Principal Evans nodded once more as he sighed, giving a small smile.

"I'm sure you will, Ms Tennyson. It's only because we care about you." Principal Evans replied before looking back at Mr. Gold. "I do have to ask Mr. Gold, why were you not aware about Ms Tennyson's sleeping predicament?"

Mr. Gold froze, his eyes widened a bit at Principal Evans' question. He then tried to play it cool, taking a deep breath.

"I...I honestly wasn't aware of it at first..." Mr. Gold muttered. "It's only until now that I've learned about her having trouble sleeping and having nightmares."

"I didn't tell him...I was kinda scared to." Sarah said

Principal Evans glanced at Sarah for a few seconds, noticing there was a bit of worry in her eyes as she spoke.

He turned his gaze back on Mr. Gold for a moment.

"And...does Ms Tennyson normally talk to you about what worries her and such?" Principal Evans asked.

"Oh yes, she was probably so scared to tell me this." Mr Gold shrugged.

Principal Evans nodded before placing a hand on his chin once more as he said in a more gentle voice.

"And you're sure that all that's wrong with her is nightmares and sleeping issues?"

Mr. Gold knew what Principal Evans was trying to get at. He was trying to get information to see if Sarah was dealing with something at home. Despite these attempts to dig deeper into Sarah's life outside of school, Mr. Gold knew he had to maintain the lie. He had to protect Sarah's secret identity no matter what.

Mr. Gold took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Yes, that is all that is happening to her right now." He responded.

Principal Evans stayed silent for a moment, contemplating on what he was hearing.

Finally, after what seemed like forever to Mr. Gold, Principal Evans nodded.

"Very well then," Principal Evans then looked at Sarah. "Ms Tennyson, the reason we called Mr Gold here isn't just to discuss about you falling asleep in class but there is something else."

After the talk on the drive back home, Sarah was looking down the whole time. Mr Gold was thankful the staff didn't know about Sarah's secret of her being a superhero, but he could see she was worried.

"Am I in trouble?" Sarah asked her stepfather.

Mr. Gold glanced over at Sarah as she spoke. Seeing her looking upset and worried, he knew that she was scared of being in trouble.

He sighed before replying to her question.

"No, no, you're not in trouble." Mr. Gold muttered, his tone of voice was gentle and calm. "But.." he spoke, pausing for a few moments.

Sarah then looked up at him, "....i have tone down the super hero thing at night?"

Mr. Gold nodded, keeping his eyes on the road as he spoke.

"Yes. Yes you do." Mr. Gold said. "You can't be staying up at night fighting super villains and aliens. It's affecting you at school and you need to take that into consideration more."

"Ever since I got thing it got me nothing trouble during school. I mean, I like the hero thing, but it's not fun during the school year." Sarah sighed leaned against her seat.

Mr. Gold felt for Sarah. He knew she loved being the hero with all her powers and such, but he also understood that this hero business was causing trouble for her in school.

He glanced at her before he spoke.

"I understand you love using your powers and using your hero name, but you have to take care of your school life too." He said. "You need to stop staying up late and doing hero business every night."

She sighed and nodded. "I wish Kranky could've gotten me tips for that."

Mr. Gold chuckled a bit as he heard Sarah's comment.

"Yes, I'm sure your monkey friend would've had a few tips for balancing the whole hero business and school." He replied with a grin on his face.

Sarah then smiled and giggled. They finally pulled to the driveway. Stephanie, Sarah's older sister was working on homework from her college at the table.

The sight of Stephanie doing her college homework piqued Mr. Gold's  interest as he parked the car into the driveway.

Once parked. He and Sarah got out of the car before he gave Stephanie a small wave.

"Hello, Stephanie." He spoke, greeting her.

Stephanie looked up from her homework, seeing Mr. Gold and Sarah wave at her. She returned the wave and gave a small smile.

"Hey," she replied in a soft voice. "You two are home late."

"Yeah...principal," Sarah sighed.

Stephanie shook her head at her sister. She had been falling asleep again all because  her hero duty.

Mr. Gold sighed, shaking his head knowing Sarah was starting to struggle at school again because of her secret.

He walked over to Stephanie before taking a seat in one of the empty chairs.

"We got home late because," he spoke with a hint of concern in his voice. "Sarah got lectured at by the principal again about falling asleep in class."

Mr Gold sighed and nodded, "so not doing hero duty during the night in the school year so much. I will take care of it."

Sarah sighed as Mr Gold head to the kitchen.

Stephanie shook her head, but remembered Sarah got a letter and grabbed it for her. Mr. Gold entered the kitchen, leaving Stephanie and Sarah alone for a moment. He needed to take a minute to collect his thoughts.

"I almost forgot. You got a letter from the mail earlier." Stephanie spoke with a small smile.

Sarah opened the letter seeing its from Donkey Kong from Africa. She smiled, but her smile faded as she read what he wrote.

Stephanie glanced at her little sister. Seeing the smile on her face quickly faded to a look of confusion and worry.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked, watching Sarah as she read the letter.

"...Donkey Kong says there is some trouble and I need to go to Bernard and Miss Bianca. They are in New York though. He says I need to tell them some kids are in trouble. He got the message from Jake the kangaroo mouse."

Stephanie raised a brow as she heard what Sarah said in the letter.

"Huh, that sounds a bit strange..." she said. "But you're going, right?" she then asked, tilting her head to the side a bit.

"Of course, I mean Bernard and Miss Bianca are my friends...," she turned to Mr Gold worriedly. "Uh...dad?"

"Yeah...I need to go somewhere...New York...," Sarah said.

"It's...a mission. Donkey Kong send a letter getting a message from Jake in Australia that some kids are in trouble, so I have to go get Bernard and Miss Bianca the mice from the Rescue Aid Society ..."

Mr. Gold nodded as he listened to Sarah, letting every word she said sink in.

It all sounded like such a strange and unlikely scenario. Talking about Donkey Kong and the Rescue Aid Society? It sounded too far-fetched to be real.

However, this was Sarah. She's a superhero who transformed into aliens and got into many adventures he had no explanation for. So, it's possible that her tale may be true.

Mr. Gold sighed, thinking carefully for a few moments.

"You can go...but bring George your monkey with you." Mr Gold said.

"Well of course." Sarah said.

George, hearing his name, leaped out and jumped on Sarah's shoulders.

"...I am not sure. I hope not long, but I will keep you updated of how big the issue is."

Mr Gold nodded, his brow furrowed in worry. He was still concerned about letting Sarah go to New York alone, but he knew that Sarah was determined to go. There was no way of stopping her.

"Alright...just be careful, okay?" Mr Gold muttered, his voice filled with a mix of worry and love.

Sarah nodded. Mr. Gold smiled as Sarah hugged him, immediately hugging her back. He patted her head and whispered.

"Now. You make sure to stay out of trouble," Mr. Gold said with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

"I will, dad." Sarah head upstairs to pack her backpack.

Mr Gold watches as Sarah heads upstairs to pack, with George still on her shoulders. His mind was still filled with worry, but he trusted her.

Once she finished she hugged Steph too. "And dad, let mom know too?"

Mr Gold nodded, a small smile on his face. "I will, don't worry." He said.

Meanwhile, Stephanie gave Sarah a tight hug, making sure not to squeeze the life out of her. She then patted her head.

"Be careful. And come back soon, okay?" Stephanie said.

"I will, sis." Sarah smiled and headed outside. She turned on the omnitrix once she stepped outside and transformed into XLR8. She then sped off to New York City.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]